The Daily Signal - #321: Gov. Matt Bevin on the Difference Trump Has Made

Episode Date: October 19, 2018

The federal government has done a 180 under the Trump administration, with agencies cutting regulations and giving states more power. And no one’s happier about that than Republican governors. Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky shares about his experience leading his state under President Barack Obama, and then President Donald Trump. We’ll bring you that interview shortly. Plus: In the age of #MeToo, Snow White is coming under new scrutiny. We also cover these stories:--Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls for Saudi Arabia to have a few days to investigate what occurred to missing journalist.--President Trump says if Mexico doesn't stop the caravan of migrants, he "will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!”--Former President Jimmy Carter said it was a “very serious mistake” to confirm Brett Kavanaugh.--Kleenex is rebranding its “mansize” tissues after getting gender complaints from customers. The tissues thenceforth will be called "Kleenex Extra Large."The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. This is the Daily Signal Podcasts for Friday, October 19. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Daniel Davis. The federal government has done a 180 under the Trump administration with agencies cutting regulations and giving states more power. And no one's happier about that than Republican governors. I sat down with Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky recently to hear about his experience

leading his state under Obama and then under Trump. We'll bring you that interview shortly. Plus, in the age of me, too, Snow White is coming under new scrutiny. We'll discuss. But first, we'll cover a few of the top headlines. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked to reporters Thursday about the ongoing situation involving whether Saudi Arabia was involved in the disappearance and likely death of a journalist who had previously written for the Washington Post.

The journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, hasn't been seen since he entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey earlier this month. We take this matter with respect to Mr. Koshoggi very seriously. They made clear to me that they too understand the serious nature of the disappearance of Mr. Kishoggi. They also assured me that they will conduct a complete thorough investigation of all of the facts surrounding Mr. Kishoggi and that they will do so in a timely fashion and that this report itself will be transparent for everyone to see, to ask questions about, and to acquire with respect to its thoroughness. And I told President Trump this morning that we ought to give them a few more days to complete.

that so that we too have a complete understanding of the facts surrounding that, at which point we can make decisions about how or if the United States should respond to the incident surrounding Mr. Khashoggi. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin tweeted, just met with President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and we have decided, I will not be participating in the Future Investment Initiative Summit in Saudi Arabia. That summit is scheduled to take place next week. Well, a caravan of roughly 4,000 migrants is making its way up to the southern U.S. border,

but President Trump isn't having it. On Wednesday, he issued a swift warning to the Mexican government to stop the caravan, saying on Twitter, quote, in addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught, and if unable to do so, I will call up the U.S. military and close our southern border. border." He also threatened to upend a trade deal recently agreed to by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico if the caravan isn't stopped. Mexican government sent federal police to its southern border on Wednesday, saying they would detain and deport any migrant who enters without a visa. Former President Jimmy Carter is not on the Kavanaugh bandwagon. According to a report in the

student newspaper of Emory University, the Emery Wheel, Carter said it was, quote, a very serious mistake, end quote, to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court. Carter also said that even aside from Christine Blaisey Ford's allegation against Kavana, quote, I thought he was temperamentally unfit to serve on the Supreme Court because of his outburst during the hearing. Well, Senator Ted Cruz got more love from protesters at the D.C. airport this week. Take a listen. It was a victory for women in America.

You think they're putting a sexual assaulter on the court? Thank you, sir. God bless you. So you believe in men assaulting women. That's what you're both passed today, Senator. I believe in due process. You believe in due process? Lots of women were out there talking about their stories, and you don't care. Do you believe in a man lying about his alcohol in front of the Senate and forgery?

Do you believe in perjury? Thank you for expressing your First Amendment rights. So why do you support a man that abuses women? Shame on you, Ted Cruz. God bless you, ma'am. Shame on you, Ted Cruz. Shame on you, Ted Cruz. Shame on you, Ted Cruz.

Shame on you, Ted Cruz. You know, he's almost enjoying it these days. Like, if you watch the video, he's definitely got that smirk of satisfaction. Like, well, Kavanaugh's on the court, and you guys are paid to be here. Although we don't know that. We don't know they were paid. But I don't know. I can't imagine enjoying uproars like this at the airport.

But not a politician. Well, anyway, fun fact, President Trump is becoming the media's best. friend. ABC News reports, quote, forget all that enemy of the people talk. Donald Trump has been spending a remarkable amount of time with reporters lately. In fact, ABC News can find no comparable time period when a president of the United States has taken more questions from the news media than Donald Trump has over the past 11 days, end quote. But don't think that his amount of availability is winning the media over. Politico, editor-in-churchase, Chief John Harris insinuated in a tweet Wednesday that President Trump was, well, a white nationalist

leader. When the tweet got attention, Harris pushed back, saying, quote, sometimes wisecracks get lost in Twitter translation. I'm not sure what exactly he could mean by that, but. Sounds like someone's in trouble. Well, if you thought Obamacare was yesterday's issue, it could be once again around the corner. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Republicans could take another swing. repealing the law in the coming months.

He said, quote, if we had the votes to completely start over, we'd do it. End quote. Republicans fell one vote short of repealing the law in 2017 when Senator John McCain cast his vote with the Democrats. Senator John Kyle now holds his seat. Margot Cleveland, a senior contributor to the Federalists, unearthed an interesting detail in a court case. Apparently, the Obama administration believes so strongly in abortion that they help

minors get over state lines to obtain abortions. Quote, Obama administration officials transported pregnant minors in federal custody to New Mexico to obtain abortions in order to circumvent parental consent laws in other states. Cleveland wrote in the Federalist. In the case, Cleveland describes the minor whose parents were in a different state at the time, did not want her parents to know and told the government officials she wanted to get the abortion. Well, the rise of neo-Marxist critical theory has created, all kinds of new academic disciplines at universities previously unheard of.

Disciplines like gender studies, queer studies, you name it. But taxpayers in the nation of Hungary have had enough. Reuters reports that the Hungarian government will stop financing gender studies university courses. A top staffer for Victor Orban, the newly re-elected prime minister, said, quote, the Hungarian government is of the clear view that people are born either men or women. They lead their lives the way they think best, but beyond this, the Hungarian state does not wish to spend public funds on education in this area. Well, Nebraska wants to drum up tourism, and it's starting with an unusual new tagline. Honestly, it's not for everyone.

One ad even reads, famous for our flat, boring landscape. And I have to admit, as someone who spent a lot of time in Iowa as a political reporter, this does make me a little bit sad that I never crossed the border. Well, Kleenex is rebranding its man-sized tissues after getting gender complaints from customers. The tissues thenceforth will be called Kleenex Extra Large. Well, thank goodness. I'm still confused about, like, are there really people who want bigger Kleenex? Or, like, I just didn't know this was a thing. I would way much rather have man-sized.

Like, Kleenex Extra Large sounds like something they just created, like, spur of the moment because they had no time to brand it and they just had to do damage control. Well, what about like really petite people, probably largely women, who have really small hands? Like, should there be Kleenex extra small? Like, I don't know.

This is like a whole range of options that I have never thought about. That's a good point. Also, men are like generally on average bigger, so why is that a controversial thing? I mean, what isn't controversial these days? I mean, men's clothing on average, even like the medium versus, like,

Like, if you had the same sizes, men and women's, you know, medium from both men and women, the men would still be bigger. Yeah. So, like, maybe everyone's a sexist. Okay. Well, on that great note, next up, we're going to have Daniels interview with Governor Matt Bevan. I'm Rob Blewey, editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal. And I'm Jenny Malta Bono.

Each weekday, the Daily Signal, delivers the Morning Bell email direct to your inbox. We created the Morning Bell to be your one-stop source for credit. news reporting and insightful commentary on the issues that are shaping the agenda. You can subscribe today and get it delivered to your inbox each weekday morning. Sign up now at dailysignal.com. Just click on the connect button at the top of the page and subscribe today. Well, we have the pleasure now being joined by Matt Bevan, the governor of Kentucky. Governor, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

Very welcome. Great to sit down with you. So, Governor, I've got several questions I want to ask you about Kentucky and the policy stuff, but I got to start off. I was on Twitter this morning. and I saw a video of you that involved some grenades in an open field, and it's taken on quite a following. Tell us what that was about. I know you had a point there, but you were making about reforms in Kentucky. Sure, you know, it's interesting that.

It has taken on a life of its own in some respects. I had my entire cabinet. We travel around the state so that people in Kentucky can meet them, and they can meet people on the ground where they are. In this particular week, we were out at Eddyville, which is the maximum security prison in Kentucky, meeting and doing town hall forums out in that part of the state. Well, while we were visiting Eddieville with the team,

we did some training with the CERT folks. These are the people who respond to emergencies inside of corrections facilities, what have you. As part of that demonstration, they had a lot of munitions, showed us how they control crowds, et cetera. And then members of the cabinet and my team were allowed to also take part in this. At the end of which there were a number of, of these smoke grenades and flash bang grenades that were left over.

And so really on a bit of a lark, we just made this video. And it really came out kind of funny. It really wasn't intended to be taken quite as seriously as folks have taken it. But I'm delighted that it has because we draw attention to the fact that indeed we have been trying to blow up corruption inside dealing and red tape. And a lot of things that, frankly, not just in Kentucky, but in government in general, have proliferated in recent years. That's terrific.

Well, you've been a governor now for, is it three years? Coming up on three years, yeah. It'll be three years after this election. Okay, so I saw that during that first year, you would have been a governor under President Obama and then the last two years under Trump. Can you give us a sense of what the difference has been, being a governor under Obama versus Trump?

Night and day, and I will say this. I mean, also just being an observer of history and of politics, there has never, certainly in my limited experience, but also in the experience of governors who've done this for a long time. There's never been an administration more open to governors than the Trump administration. The interaction, the desire to reach out, the proactive reaching out on behalf of the president himself and the administration, night and day by comparison to the Obama administration, they really didn't care what governors thought. They really didn't have a lot of interaction at all. and it is a wonderful respect for the 10th Amendment for the sovereignty of states,

and it is refreshing at every turn what the Trump administration is doing. Well, you know, they've certainly gotten a lot done, especially recently on the Supreme Court. We saw an encouraging development with Kavanaugh now on the court. You know, in D.C., for those of us who had the misfortune of seeing, a lot of mob mentality protesters, has that mob mentality that has affected really the far left of the Democratic Party? Has that affected you in any way? I mean, just look at the responses to that video that we were just talking about. I mean, just the vitriol and the insanity.

We've become very divisive. We've become a kind of civil discourse has largely gone out the window. It's a shame. There is no more bipartisan of bipartisanship. It's very partisan. I mean, the fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, made it through the Supreme Court with 94 or 95 votes of affirmation. And as she should have.

She was qualified. She may be very liberal, and I, among others, may have disagreed with her ideology, but I couldn't disregard the fact that she was qualified. Same with Kavanaugh. But now it isn't about whether someone's qualified. It's whether or not we can assassinate their character and try to prevent them from bringing a different mindset than we might have ourselves. And this is what's wrong with the political process.

So yes, it affects us in nationally. It affects us in Kentucky. My opposition does this nonstop. Even now, while I'm not on the ballot, there are many, many people who are hoping to be the next governor who are helping to fund PACs and are being helped by PACs that are running ads against legislators that are really designed to attack me. They're all about me and attacking me. But this is what happens. And maybe it's always been this way. It just seems more of it than ever before.

When you took office, my understanding is that there's been a shift toward the Republican Party in the legislature in Kentucky that really for the first time since the 1930s, the New Deal. Well, I will say this. I'm the third governor since World War II that's a Republican. I think the fourth and a hundred years. We don't do that very often. When I was elected, the House was very strongly held by Democrats and had been uninterrupted, to your point, since 1920. Wow. Actually, 95 straight years of Democrat control. It's like the Cubs won in the World Series. It was a little. It really was. We broke both the curse of the goat and the curse of the Bambino in the case of the Red Sox

and all these other century-long curses, I suppose. But that did change in 2016. So there's a tremendous effort right now in Kentucky, and as well there should be, I suppose, for the Democrats to receive the House in Kentucky. And so it's this silly season, three weeks to go. lots of things being thrown about on the air. Yeah, well, I want to ask you about the tax cuts and their effect in your state. At the Heritage Foundation, we've done a state-by-state study of what their impact is,

and just one figure here, I see that tax reform in Kentucky for the average family of four is bringing an extra $25,000 in take-home pay over the next 10 years. Are folks in Kentucky starting to feel this effect? And what does tax reform mean for your constituents? There's no question that people on the ground feel it. One of my daughters was working at a large national company who then decided to bump everybody's minimum pay from, in that case, $9.50 an hour she was making to $11 an hour.

So a teenager suddenly went from $9.50 at 11, you think she wasn't fired up. She was very fired up. There's a whole lot of people who are seeing that in a large-scale, small scale, people hiring more, people expending more capital. There's a lot of investment going on. And so, yes, you wouldn't know it to read the editorial boards because the papers that are owned by the McClatchys and the Gannets, they're very liberal. They don't like the president. They don't like the idea that government isn't the solution, that people spending their own money might just be a better way to go. And so they don't like it. But the people on the ground

love it. And the small business owners love it. And the people who actually work for a living and pay taxes, love it. Now, Kentucky is also a big coal state. Traditionally, a lot of coal coming out of Kentucky. Has Trump's deregulation of coal had an impact on your state yet? Well, the deregulation really has less to do with the coal, but more on the way in which the mining of coal is just monitored. And the fact that this EPA and this administration are less desirous of destroying,

the coal industry. I mean, the Obama administration was very overt, and Hillary Clinton's same thing, that they were determined to remove it. 80% of the electricity in Kentucky is still powered by coal. Over a third of the electricity in America is still powered by coal. In the world, it is far and away the most highly contributing component to the world's energy grid. So it's a big, a big player in Kentucky still. And yes, the fact that the president isn't in an all-out war on it, as the previous president was, has been tremendous. And we've seen a stabilization. We've also seen exports up four, five, six times for Kentucky coal.

And I would assume coal coming from other places as well. Wow, that's tremendous. Well, Governor, I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down and join us. We really appreciate it. You're very welcome. Liberals have pretty much cornered the market on 101-style podcasts that break down tough policy issues in the news. Until now, did you know that every week,

Heritage Explains intermingles personal stories, news clips, and facts from heritage experts to help explain some of today's hardest issues from a conservative perspective. Look for Heritage Explains on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. Actress Kristen Bell, who stars in The Good Place and side note, if you love philosophy and religion, this is an awesome show to watch on TV. Anyway, Bell herself isn't a big fan of Snow White. She told Parents Magazine that when she talks to her daughters about Snow White, she makes comments like, don't you think that it's weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you cannot kiss someone if they're sleeping.

Actress Kara Knightley has similar concerns appearing on Ellen DeGeneres show to talk about what movies her toddler daughter can't watch. And she's banned from seeing certain children's movies, right? Yeah. What are they? Cinderella band because she waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don't. Rescue herself, obviously.

Right. And this is the one that I'm quite annoyed about because I really like the film but Little Mermaid. I mean the songs are great but do not give your voice up for a man. Hello. Wow. Okay, so Daniel, what do you think?

Should children be banned from engaging with fairy tales? Okay, so here's the thing. The whole Snow White example where he, he brings her back to life by kissing her while she's not conscious, that is a completely hypothetical and made up scenario that would never exist. Like the idea, Well, then they probably should get in trouble if they do that.

But I don't think that's the message kids are getting that they should actually do it. You know, the idea is it's a mystical world where he can actually bring her back to life by kissing her. And so that's how it works. But that's not real. It's kind of like kissing a frog. you know, kissing the frog and he becomes a prince. Which I think actually was a Disney movie at some point. I think they've made that one now.

Yeah. I mean, maybe that's against animal rights too. I mean, we should probably get rid of that too. But no, like, you know, I don't think kids are going to get the message. But I will say for the record, you should not kiss someone who is asleep. Unless you're married to them, then it's probably totally fine. But that's not relevant. Yes, because a stranger who's sleeping.

But I think as you say, like these are not. at real situations. And I think, you know, there's so many children's movies. I mean, is the parent trap bad because children shouldn't swap identities and go to the wrong parents' house? It sounded music bad because you don't want children to make the curtains into clothes. Like, you could take situations out of everything. And I think the thing that's, you know, fairy tales, they've resonated, I think, for a reason. I think that stories that have been told, I don't know, specific origins of Snow White and Cinderella. I believe Cinderella is, I think, the most common version is the 1600s, France or something. But these are stories that have been told

through the centuries. Like, clearly, they speak to something in the human psyche that is deep and meaningful. And, you know, I think on a really sappy level, although I don't personally like Snow White, because I hate the witch and I hate Snow White, so there's a lot of issues there. But you could see it as being about the restorative power of love itself. You know, sleeping beauty has similar, you know, possible lessons. You know, Little Mermaid, like, there are things we have to make. There are pros and cons to joining other worlds. Like, you know, if you leave the comfortable world of your childhood, things happen.

And I just hate, I think if we take everything literally, we will destroy stories. And I think in doing so, we will have lost one of the things that makes us most human. So an interesting thing. I think there's a deep issue here where Kieranightly seems to be against the idea of women being kind of swept off their feet or rescued by a man or that kind of motif, which is so common throughout all of these stories. There's still any common romantic comedy or chick flick. Like that's also a theme. So like I'm curious from your perspective as a woman, I can't only speak to this. You can't change your job.

No, that's not possible because we live in reality. reality. Is it like, is that, is that a, is that an idea that appeals to women naturally? And is it okay? I think it's important to actually have that conversation. Because she says it's not okay. No, I think that's a great point that you make. Yeah, I would say that in general, probably, I guess women tend to more fantasize about being the rescued one. And I'd imagine guys tend to more want to be the rescuer. But I think that, yeah, that's probably something inherent in nature. I don't think it's true for all women or true for all men. I think we can make broad things that don't apply to everyone.

But I also think that, yeah, sometimes what they're trying to eradicate is something that is really innate. Now, at the same time, I do think that, you know, I like that we often challenge, like, to be honest, I think some women have been too affected by chick flicks. Or, you know, romance novels, which I'm really opposed to. Like, I think that you can get in this mindset of like, oh, my whole purpose in being is waiting for a guy and that'll make me happy. And then you get married and you're like, oh, I'm not perfectly happy. And then marriage just collapsed because people put way too many expectations on them. So, like, I think it's a thing to keep in balance to check.

But I also think that, yeah, yeah, ultimately women probably more often than not want to be the rescued one. and guys hopefully they can get away from their stupid video games want to rescue. Isn't that so interesting that we criticize guys for just being in cells and playing video games and shutting off from society? And yet we also criticize them for actively being the ones who want to go out and conquer and, you know, save women. I don't know. Wait, who is criticizing guys for saving women? Fear Knightley. No, she's not. She's saying it.

She's saying that it's fundamentally bad for women to be in the posture of rescued and men to be the one who is rescuing. Well, she's against that. She's against that. She's against. Which to a certain extent, like, I agree with. Like, if I'm in a bad situation, I should not be like... Rescue might be too strong a word. But, like, you know, the guy's initiating.

The woman's responding. That's the idea. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll agree with you there. And it just seems to me like the logical implication of what, what she's saying is men and women shouldn't have any differences at all.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Or, yeah, or maybe more fundamentally, like, there should be nothing that women need for men. And I think the thing about it is, I mean. A fish needs a bicycle. Right. And, like, the thing is, it works both ways. Men need certain things from women. It's not, like, only one party needs the other one.

Right. That's very true. I will say this, though. I appreciate that she is taking charge of her role as mother. and based on her own view of the world, she is taking charge of her daughter's life and trying to pursue her daughter's well-being the way she understands it, which I think is good.

Nowadays we tend to denigrate parental rights, and I do think it's encouraging that she's taking charge in that way. True. And I'd also agree with her that stories have an insane impact, I think, on how someone's imagination develops, especially in childhood, and parents should think care. about what kind of stories they're exposing their children to.

And yeah, I just question whether these are the right stories to be concerned about. She could always show her daughter Veggie Tales. They're so good. By the time Veggie Tales came around, I was babysitting kids who were watching Veggie Tales. And I was confused by the popular claim. But I know I'm in the minority in this. Well, you're in the minority in a lot of things, which is. why we appreciate your perspective because you're a contrarian. Thank you, David.

The devil's advocate. Well, we're going to leave it there. I don't need you to rescue me from that statement. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, thanks so much for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. Brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or a rating on iTunes to give us any feedback. Rob and Jenny will be with you on Monday. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinco and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Michael Gooden,

Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.